Thomas Gray,
in Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard, treats nature with the utmost respect.
According to the poem, nature holds all of mankind at the same level.
With elements of
Romanticism in his poem, Thomas Gray's first four stanzas express a
communion of nature with the souls of the dead country people. For
instance, the words descriptive of nature, "the world
to darkness," "the solemn stillness of the air," "the
"moping owl," and the "moldering heap" of turf in the first
four stanzas connote death, its darkness, and its immobility.
The speaker considers
the fact that in death, there is no difference between great and common people.
Based upon this, nature
is very different from mankind. Mankind draws lines, makes excuses, and believes
itself to be (sometimes) all-powerful. Nature, in the end, has the last
say--all will die and return to the ground.
Thomas Gray glorifies common men by
making them equal to men who once had possession of power and heraldry. Gray
points out that in death, there is no difference between the poor and the
wealthy.
Gray
describes the "useful toil" of common people such as harvesting,
driving their teams of farm animals, plowing fields, and chopping trees in a
positive way. He also highlights their "homely joys" of warm fires,
housewife's care, and loving children. He cautions that "grandeur"—in
other words, the rich—should not distain the simplicity of the poor.
On the other hand, Gray emphasizes that the
seeming advantages of heraldry, power, beauty, and wealth that the rich seem to
have are all lost at death, saying, "The paths of glory lead but to the
grave.
Gray glorifies common
men by comparing their lives with the lives of the rich and privileged. His
says is that the poor live simple, honest, and honorable lives, while the lives
of the rich and privileged are deceitful and hypocritical because ultimately,
they will lose all that they possessed that they thought set them apart and
made them better.
In a further comparison, the lives
of the poor, country people who are buried in this obscure churchyard have
been unfulfilled just as parts of nature are ignored. As the narrator visits
the graveyard of a country church, he muses on the people who lie buried there.
He speaks of them as poor, hard working people who have lived and died without
wealth or political power, missed and mourned only by their families.
In his poem, Gray suggests
that country folk be remembered and appreciated. “Elegy Written
in a Country Churchyard” was among the first poems to provide a
realistic portrayal of the countryside. In speaking of these country
people, he contrasts their lives in the country with the lives of those in the
city. The contrast is developed primarily in lines 45-75.
Although the narrator stands in the quiet,
beautiful natural surroundings, he notes that those who lived in the country
led limited, uneducated lives. Because of where they lived, their
potential could not be fulfilled. "Full many a flower is born to blush
unseen / And waste its sweetness on the desert air." He wonders how many
potentially great, but never realized, poets and political leaders might
lie beneath his feet. However, he then acknowledges that the limited
country life also stifled any potential to do harm, "their crimes confined."
The narrator finally concludes that the city is the place where the
"madding" crowd lives in "ignoble" strife, while the
country is "the cool sequestered vale of life."
The narrator finds positive and negative
aspects both in city life and in country life. The country offers a
peaceful but limited existence. The city offers education and opportunity, but
the atmosphere is frenzied, maddening, and less than noble
Throughout the poem, Gray shows his honor of
nature by constantly admitting to the power of nature. Therefore, Gray treats
nature with the utmost respect given that nature, unlike mankind, does not
prejudice. Instead, the fact that, through nature, the common man is elevated
shows the great power which nature has.
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